Rock of ages

li'

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OF

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iiilfiliiiiKiijisiitlS

ROCK OF AGES

BY

AUGUSTUS MONTAGUE TOPLADY

WITH

DESIGNS BY MISS L. B. HUMPHREY

Engraved by John Andrew and Son

BOSTON:
LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS.

NEW YORK:
CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM.

Copyright.
1878.

By Lee and Shepard.

All rights reservea.

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in Thee!

Let the water and the blood.

From Thy riven side whirh flowed,

Be of sin the double cure,

Cleanse me from its guilt and power

Not the labors of my liands
Can fulfil Thy law's demands ;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears for ever flow.
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring;
Simply to Thy Cross I cling ;
Naked, come to Thee for dress ;
Helpless, look to Thee for grace ;
Foul, I to the Fountain fly;
Wash me. Saviour, or I die !

While T draw this fleeting breath.
When my eyestrings break in death,
When I soar through tracts unknown,
See Thee on Thy judgment-throne;
Rock of Ages, cleft for me.
Let me hide myself in Thee!

1925736

Augustus Montague Toplady was born at Farnham,
Surrey, England, in 1740. His father fell at the battle of
Carthagena, and he was brought up in charge of an exem-
plary and pious mother. He was educated at Westminster
school.

At the age of sixteen Toplady chanced to go into a barn
at an obscure place, called Codymain, Ireland, to hear an
illiterate layman preach. The sermon made upon him an
unexpected impression and led to his immediate conver-
sion.

He became a minister of the Church of England, and
preached and wrote with self-consuming zeal.

In the year 1775 his health began to fail. His physician
commanded him to go to London, where he became pastor
of the French Calvinist Reformed Church.

In the year of his settlement in London he published in
die Gospel Magazine {y\.2iXc\\, 1776) an article entitled "Ques-
tions and Answers Relative to the National Debt," in which
he adverts to the debt of sin, and shows how multitudinous
are the sins of mankind. By numerical calculations he
exhibits the enormity of the debt of the redeemed soul,
which Christ has cancelled, and impresses the reader with
the transcendent love and value of Christ's atonement
With these thoughts glowing Hke a vision in his mind, he
wrote the hymn beginning, " Rock of Ages, cleft for me."
He died in 1778.

(^CJl of ^^gcs, deft for me,
^et uic hide myself in Sliec!

OCK of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee !
Let the water and the blood,

From Thy riven side which flowed,

Be of sin the double cure.

Cleanse me from its guilt and power.

/or tl)ci) Drank of tl)at spiritual rock tijat follotocti
tl)cm ; aul) tijat rock roas (lll)rist.

Cor. X. 4.

S^ss^^V-,

OT the labors of my hands
Can fulfil Thy law's demands j
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears for ever flow,
All for sin could not atone ;
Thou must save, and Thou alone-

■pc tl)ou nxv strong rock, for an bouse of Defence to

satje me.

Psalms xxxi. 2.

Nothing in my hand I bring ;
Simply to Thy Cross I cling ;

ILcat) me to tl)c rock tljat is l)tgl)cr tljan 3E.

Psalms Ixi. 2.

AKED, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless, look to Thee
for grace ;

Foul, I to the Fountain fly ; f
Wash me, Saviour, or I die ! ^

^^ tl)e iSliatioro of a circat rock in a tocarr) lanb.

Isaiah xxxii. 2.

HILE I draw this
fleeting breath,

When my eyestrings
break in death,

When I soar through
tracts unknown,

See Thee on Thy judgment-throne;
Rock of Ages, cleft for me.
Let me hide myself in Thee!

^et us make a. joijtu.1 noise to thtiMC 1^
of OUT -Salvation

It t|)i$ rock I toill built) mii cl)ttrrl).

Matt. xvi. 1 8.

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